Difficult Days (40)
Series: Genesis
Robert Dawson
Genesis 30:25-31,55
How many of you remember sitting in your desk at school, last class of the day, watching the clock and waiting for the sweetest sound ever heard - the last bell of the day? That screeching squawking bell was music to my ears and life to my bones. When that bell sounded tired comatose grumpy students suddenly came to life, found some joy and bolted for the door. That bell meant it was time to go home.
For 14 years Jacob has been watching the clock and waiting for the bell to ring so that he could finally bolt for home. He had been in Paddan-aram far too long. He knew it was not where he was meant to be. God had made him a promise. God promised His presence and to bring him back home again.
In our lesson today, the bell was ringing loudly in Jacob’s heart. He was ready for home. He had his wives, Leah and Rachel. He had his children, 11 boys and 1 girl. Rachel, who had been barren, unable to have children, had finally given birth to boy number 11, Joseph. He fulfilled the terms of his 14-year employment contract with his crooked father-in-law Laban. After 14 years of labor, he had finally paid off his wives, with interest. It was time to burn the loan notice, rent a U-Haul and start his journey to Canaan.
In verse 25 he tells Laban, ‘‘Send me away that I may go to my own place and to my own country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you and let me depart; for you know the service I have rendered to you.’’
The years and service Jacob rendered to Laban had not been easy. They were difficult and challenging on so many levels. In studying the lives of these early patriarchs and matriarchs, and the men and women of faith throughout Scripture, we find a recuring theme...
God shapes his people with life’s difficulties
It is an unpleasant statement to be sure but true, nonetheless.
• God uses difficult circumstances to fashion and mold us into the kind of p ...
Series: Genesis
Robert Dawson
Genesis 30:25-31,55
How many of you remember sitting in your desk at school, last class of the day, watching the clock and waiting for the sweetest sound ever heard - the last bell of the day? That screeching squawking bell was music to my ears and life to my bones. When that bell sounded tired comatose grumpy students suddenly came to life, found some joy and bolted for the door. That bell meant it was time to go home.
For 14 years Jacob has been watching the clock and waiting for the bell to ring so that he could finally bolt for home. He had been in Paddan-aram far too long. He knew it was not where he was meant to be. God had made him a promise. God promised His presence and to bring him back home again.
In our lesson today, the bell was ringing loudly in Jacob’s heart. He was ready for home. He had his wives, Leah and Rachel. He had his children, 11 boys and 1 girl. Rachel, who had been barren, unable to have children, had finally given birth to boy number 11, Joseph. He fulfilled the terms of his 14-year employment contract with his crooked father-in-law Laban. After 14 years of labor, he had finally paid off his wives, with interest. It was time to burn the loan notice, rent a U-Haul and start his journey to Canaan.
In verse 25 he tells Laban, ‘‘Send me away that I may go to my own place and to my own country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you and let me depart; for you know the service I have rendered to you.’’
The years and service Jacob rendered to Laban had not been easy. They were difficult and challenging on so many levels. In studying the lives of these early patriarchs and matriarchs, and the men and women of faith throughout Scripture, we find a recuring theme...
God shapes his people with life’s difficulties
It is an unpleasant statement to be sure but true, nonetheless.
• God uses difficult circumstances to fashion and mold us into the kind of p ...
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